Project: Snowblind - The Uprising
by Shockdrive
Summary: Nathan and the Coalition finally defeated the Republic and destroyed the mass EMP facility on Lantau Island. The war is won. It's over...or is it?
1. Prologue

Prologue

2nd Lt. Nathan Frost walked slowly into the massive room that contained the facility's power cores, his carbine rifle at the ready. He scanned the room, but to his surprise, it was empty. Just to make sure, he flicked on his IR vision, but the room really was empty. Pulling out his Mine Launcher, he quickly fixated mines next to each power core to detonate them as their sheaths exposed their sensitive energies. Once in place, he hurried to the console in the back of the room. "Let's see here… Here we go!" he whispered triumphantly as he heard the cores open up wide. He quickly triggered the mines and he watched with a grin as the cores exploded and sputtered loudly before finally dying out.

Energy surged through the cables suddenly and all Frost could do was watch in awe. His friend, Specialist Pitney, radioed in such static, but came loud and clear. "Nathan, it's gonna create a massive EMP blast which will destroy your bio-mods. You hear me, Nathan? It might kill you." Nathan looked down at his arms, bio-engineered mods pumping with cybernetics and raw power running through them. He had been using these bio-mods for months against the Republic, and now they're going to be destroyed. He felt something tugging at his mind, but he couldn't figure out what. "Nathan, you there? Over." Pitney sputtered with concern. "Copy that. Stand by." he replied. He closed his eyes and reached for the controls on the back of his neck. He fiddled with them for a few seconds in panic, but managed to turn them off. Suddenly, he just about fell asleep. He felt "off" in his mind. It seemed nice and peaceful until a massive explosion jolted him back to reality and his human instincts finally kicked in. He looked up at the growing EMP blast building rapidly in front of him, turned and ran for his life.

"The whole place is gonna blow! Hurry!" Pitney yelled over the comms. Frost didn't waste any time doing that. He gunned a few Republic Elites and several weak soldiers as he ran past, but he knew he couldn't stop. Those mods were a part of him, and he wasn't going to let them be destroyed now. Not if he could help it.

He tried to use his Reflex Boost then shook his head; he forgot he turned his mods off. He felt fear, helplessness, and weakness.

Human. As he should be.

"Nate, you're almost out! Keep up the pace! Hurry!" he heard Pitney shout. He WAS hurrying as fast as he could. "…30 seconds to core breach." the computer spat in a robotic voice. '30 seconds?' he thought, 'Don't have much time…' Nathan made it to the first room of the facility and proceeded to kill its inhabitants that failed in a final act of defiance to kill him. With that, and a deadly EMP blast following close behind, he sprinted out the door and out of the facility.

It wasn't before long that he could see the rifle fire of his fellow Coalition soldiers and sighed with relief. "Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" he shouted as he ran. A few Republic helicopters began to escape, but that was the least of their worries. After a short run out of the facility courtyard, Frost stopped to turn and look at the building behind him. It was on fire, things were falling apart everywhere. Then, the building started to glow a bright white and blue and exploded brightly with a massive EMP blast that enveloped everything within 5 miles. When the light had dissipated, helicopters crashed to the ground with loud smashing and screaming which died quickly. Nathan looked down at his mods, saddened as they sparked weakly and he felt pain running through his nerves. He looked up at his success: the final battle had been won. The Coalition soldiers around him, including Pitney, cheered in victory. They turned, and began walking.

"That last electromagnetic blast took out all electronics within a five mile radius. None of the choppers or APCs are working." Pitney reported.

"Who needs 'em anyway…" Frost muttered depressively.

"Hey. Nice work man." Pitney said and smiled.

Frost turned and smiled back. "Thanks." They shook hands and they kept on walking.

"You know we're, uh, fifty miles from the nearest Coalition base." Pitney peered to look at Frost for a response.

"So, we walk."

Little did they know that there was more than just the Republic out there…and that was only the beginning of their troubles…


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Nathan and the other Coalition soldiers walked for hours, intent with the idea that everything was over. However, he felt empty somehow. Perhaps it was the lack of his bioaugs?

He shook his head slightly. He was born without them, and he didn't need them. Even so, he didn't feel right without them. They were a part of him now, and he relied on them to get the job done. He just started drifting off in his thoughts until…

"Hey, Nate. You feeling alright, bud?" Pitney asked him. It snapped him out of his thought instantly, and he shook off the thoughts as quickly as he could. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't feel like I used to. I don't feel human like I used to be. I mean, I'm still human, but these augs just…they made me feel whole after the incident. Now I feel absolutely powerless." he replied back quietly.

Pitney placed his hand on his shoulder, for reassurance. "Everything will be okay, buddy. We'll see about getting them turned back on. If not, you're still human. And that's what counts."

"You're right, man. I guess I'm just overreacting." Still, he could not shake the feeling. It was nagging at him so deeply. The battle was over, yet he felt vulnerable and useless, if another threat were to show up. He wondered if their rifles still worked. He looked down at his own. The lights were inert and dead. He pointed his rifle at a nearby wall and pulled the trigger, only to hear a disappointing clicking noise. He sighed and continued walking.

It was another nine hours before they arrived at a hollowed out building among the barren wasteland, what they thought to be the Coalition base Pitney was talking about.

"Pitney, I thought this was the location of the base." Frost snapped mildly. "Did we just come all this way for nothing?"

"No, I wouldn't do that. Unless…" his voice trailed off as the floor underneath them clicked and began to descend into the ground. A beeping noise sounded, and the platform below them dropped rapidly. It felt like forever that they descended, until they were greeted to an open room, and about fifty rifles pointed at their heads.

"STAND DOWN! They're not our enemy." a voice boomed throughout the room. The welcoming party lowered their barrels to the floor and stepped away from Nathan, who stepped forward in response. "You're Frost, aren't you? That super-soldier I had created?" a figure spoke, walking through the group of men that nearly blew their heads off.

"Yes, sir. 2nd Lieutenant Nathan Frost of the Liberty Coalition Peacekeeping Force, reporting." he sternly replied and saluted. "May I ask who is asking, sir?"

"I am General Hardner. I had your operation funded directly and resourced. Every cybernetic part came from this facility. Yan-Lo knew about it, and tried to destroy it with that same EMP you ladies prematurely fired. That's why he placed his base on this very island. Luckily for you, we're still here. Well, what's left of us anyways." the man replied, crossing his arms instead.

"Sir, we've got a few wounded, and they are priority. Do you have a medical unit we could possibly use?" Pitney stepped forward, cutting in. Hardner shot him a glance that would have easily killed a Republic Elite, but sighed and radioed for medical to get there immediately. "They'll be here shortly." Hardner turned back to Nathan. "Frost, I'm aware your augs are currently unresponsive. We were actually hoping you'd come by; we can repair them and improve them as well. Without the side-effects, no doubt."

Nathan's eyes lit up at the sound of that. He'd finally get to feel whole again. Just like before the EMP had detonated. Just like…

"Frost! Did you hear me?" a deep voice roared in his ear. "Y-yes sir! Sorry, sir."

"Follow me." Hardner demanded. He pointed to a short soldier to his left. "Chen, show these guys the medical bay. After that, I want them fed, stocked up and ready to go. Double time." The man saluted and proceeded to lead Pitney and the others away down another hallway adjacent to them. Hardner motioned for Nathan to follow, and so he did. Nathan took this chance to look over this new man and identify his features. He was older, about 40-45 maybe. Tall, and rough looking. Scar on both sides of his face, presumably from a knife around 7", possibly a sword otherwise. He definitely looked intelligent enough to create Nathan's bioaugs. No matter where he looked, however, he could not find any signs of augmentation on the rugged man.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Frost?"

"Were you modified like I was? I mean, are you cybernetically enhanced like I am?"

Hardner slowed to a halt and turned to face the question full on. A twisted look of regret, pain and disgust began to form on his face, as he drew a pistol similar to his own, large, black and silenced, and pointed it at Nathan's face. He froze, eyes slightly widening.

"We do not speak of MY enhancements, Frost. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir. I'm sorry sir."

He lowered the weapon and eyed it with sudden fascination and wonder, his face slowly reverting back to its normal state, only this time his eyes filled with sadness and remorse. As if the topic had struck him painfully somehow. He turned from Frost and leaned on a nearby window, looking into a laboratory that was experimenting on a new prototype.

"I… I had enhancements. Similar to yours. But the effects on my body were…different. My mind rejected the augments. My body rejected the cybernetics. They drove me mad. I-I…" His voice trailed off.

Nathan stepped forward and rested a hand on Hardner's shoulder. "Sir, if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." He knew this was what happened to General Yan-Lo, but he didn't think it could happen to anyone with modern versions of the augments.

Hardner brushed his hand off. "I'm fine. It's nothing. All you need to know is that I no longer have those enhancements. I don't need them." He continued down the hallway, leaving Nathan there in confused wonder. "Let's go, we have much to do."

Nathan followed shortly after, pondering what he had just witnessed. Maybe he had gotten lucky with his own implants? It would make sense, but it seems others weren't so lucky like he was. After all, he received his implants not too long after an injury at the Coalition HQ in Hong Kong. It was like it happened yesterday…

 _Nathan fired every last round of his Carbine Rifle into the helicopter, shooting for the engine and hoping for a lucky shot. Much to his dismay, his rifle clicked, but not until the helicopter began to spin and explode in his face. He shook his head, then checked the skies for any new threats. It was safe. Everyone cheered._

 _Until he heard a bomber fly overhead._

 _He looked down, to see an injured soldier holding their knee in utmost agony. He knew what he had to do. He ran for them, reaching for their hand. The soldier weakly smiled and offered his own. But it was too late. Their hands never touched._

 _The EMP bomb detonated next to him, and threw him into the air. He lost consciousness shortly after a sharp pain jolted him across his entire body._

 _Then, he woke up. He was suddenly moving. He was…in the base. On a stretcher, he believed. He heard voices. Pitney's was one. He was glad to hear a familiar voice. Though, he felt weak. Near death._

 _He remembered the day his brother joined the Coalition. He remembered the day his million-dollar helicopter was shot out of the sky. Nathan also joined the Coalition that very same day. And now it was all ending. He closed his eyes._

 _He opened his eyes, and seen more familiar faces. 'Was this the afterlife?' he thought. Kanazawa's face peered over him, too real to be some dream. He passed out again shortly._

 _He found himself laying down, without any focus on his eyes. "Frost? Frost?"_

 _"_ _His eyes aren't focusing, DeGreene."_

 _"_ _Oh shoot, right." A man hurried to his neck and pressed something and he could begin to see the room. It was the infirmary. A flying camera came by and flew in front of him._

 _"_ _If you wouldn't mind smiling for the cameras, please."_

 _There was a flash, and he raised his arms to cover his eyes, then he noticed his forearms were different. Blue. Circuit-like. What did they do to him?_

 _"_ _You've been outfitted with bleeding edge bio-enhancements. Top of the line."_

 _"_ _What happened to me?"*_

 _"_ _The other men outside found your body next to a heavily damaged statue. Your body was…well, mangled beyond any sort of repair. So we fixed you up a different way, and enhanced your body in the meantime. Hell, we had to throw your entire ribcage out and several other things. It was horrible. You have an entire new set of almost everything."_

 _Nathan raised his eyebrows and looked down at his body, placing a hand on his own chest. He didn't really feel any different, but he did feel a lot better than before. He looked at his forearm. Just what was he capable of, and how far could his abilities go?_

A hand on his shoulder shook him out of his thoughts. "Frost, are you alright? I've been talking to you this whole time."

"I'm fine. Just remembering how I got to be like this. It wasn't fun. But I had no choice to be enhanced."

"We know all about what happened to you. We made the decision to upgrade you. Although, if you hadn't received those upgrades, you'd have been dead."

Gears and wheels began to churn in Nathan's head. So these were the people who made him this way? The people who forced him to be this saviour. This hero. This potential monster.

Hardner's radio began to sound with quiet chatter and he stopped in his tracks, holding an arm out to stop Nathan as well. "You're serious? They're readying another assault already?" "Yes, sir. They're bringing EVERYTHING. Oh shit, they're-" the other end cut off suddenly with gunfire and loud mechanical noise. "Draver, come in! What's going on?!"

His shouts were met with laughter and more gunfire.

He turned to Nathan. "We have to get you battle-ready now. We're out of time." He grabbed him and rushed down the hall towards the bio unit. "What's going on, sir? Are we under attack?" he asked as he tried to stay on his feet.

"Yes, we are. And we're not going to make it unless we get you back online immediately."


End file.
